Parsi Agiyari, Khamasa

The Parsi Agiyari or Fire Temple is the main place of worship of the Zoroastrians in Ahmedabad. The Parsi Agiyari and other institutions at Khamasa were built in the mid-1800s at Khamasa. It is one of the two fire temples in Ahmedabad.

The Parsis were Zoroastrians who left Persia following religious persecution and landed on the shores of South Gujarat more than a millennium ago. They prospered in Surat where the British, the Dutch and other Europeans established factories in the 1600s and 1700s, and then in Mumbai (Bombay).

Parsi families like Petit, Wadia and Tata became major industrialists of Mumbai in the 1800s.

Late Rashid Medora in his book about Parsis of Ahmedabad relates that the earliest Parsi entered the city of Ahmedabad from Khan Jahan Darwaja in 1780. However, there were few Parsis in the city till the mid-1800s. Parsis began to come to Ahmedabad in the government services and the influx from Mumbai started after the book of textile mills in Ahmedabad.

Parsis started textile manufacturing in and around Ahmedabad in the 1890s and then entered other businesses like chemicals, food and beverages in the 1900s.

The Parsi Agiyari was opened in the 1840s but was damaged by floods in 1975 and had to be rebuilt in 1977. The Parsi Panchayat building also stands in the same premises at Khamasa.

The second Parsi Agiyari is located near the Kankaria Lake. The Zoroastrian Hall at Kankaria is an important gathering and ceremonial venue for Parsis.